On Sunday, October 1st, the city of Ciudad Madero, Northern Mexico, witnessed a disastrous event. 

During a mass, the roof of the Santa Cruz Church, which was made of thinly poured concrete, buckled and plummeted almost to the floor.

The catastrophic collapse caused the loss of at least eleven lives and injured around 50 worshippers. Approximately 100 people were present inside the church, many of whom were young, in anticipation of five scheduled baptisms. Reportedly, three children were among the deceased.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the incident was not the result of an explosion but presumably the failure of the structure itself. Surveillance footage from a nearby property exhibited the gabled roof caving inward, reinforcing this presumption. The exact cause of the failure, however, remains under review.

Joint forces from the National Guard, the state police, the state civil defense office, and the Red Cross labored tirelessly, pulling an all-nighter to execute search and rescue operations. As per Bishop José Armando Alvarez of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tampico, the roof fell when communicants were partaking in the holy communion.

In response to this catastrophic event, Bishop Alvarez reached out to the community, pleading for donations of lumber to brace sections of the crumbled roof temporarily. This action is meant to safeguard rescue teams maneuvering through the precarious debris. The church’s collapsed interior is revealed in images circulating in local media, which also hint at air pockets in the rubble that may lead rescuers to possible survivors.